How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terror in Israel.

By Jamie Weinstein, THE DAILY CALLER

Investigative author Edwin Black details how American taxpayers help fund Palestinian terrorists in his new book, ”Financing the Flames: How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terror in Israel.”

“As soon as a Palestinian terrorist murders an innocent civilian, blows up a bus, or commits any other act of terrorism in Israel, he or she goes on an official Palestinian Authority salary,” Black explained to The Daily Caller. “That salary level follows a schedule of compensation that rises dramatically with the number of people killed and the amount of carnage inflicted.”

“These are the best compensation packages in the PA, dwarfing the wage of an ordinary worker,” he continued. “Hence, you can go from rags to riches in Palestine by murdering a family or firebombing a bus. Approximately $3 million to $7 million each month is paid in this program, constituting approximately 6 percent of the PA’s annual budget. Since the PA is constantly operating at a deficit, this cash supply is dependent upon donor countries such as the United States, the UK, France and Norway. Their foreign ministries and our State Department know about this terror financing, but our congressmen do not, nor does the American public — until now.”

See The DC’s extensive interview with Black about his book below:

Why did you write the book?

For years, I’ve been following the misconduct of charitable organizations, such as the Carnegie Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation, which engaged in genocidal eugenics in the U.S. and worldwide.

A decade ago, I exposed how The Ford Foundation was funneling millions of dollars into anti-Jewish, anti-Israel hate groups in Durban, South Africa. When under pressure, The Ford Foundation pulled its funding from those groups. It re-routed the money to the New Israel Fund.

For years, my editors have been asking me to look into the conduct and funding recipients of the New Israel Fund. I finally did, and I discovered that tax-subsidized charitable donations and taxpayer-funded foreign aid are fungibly financing a culture of confrontation, violence and even terrorism in Israel. The result of my effort has been a “newsbook” entitled “Financing the Flames” — a 77,000-word uncovering of how American tax money is achieving the exact opposite of our national intent in Israel.

You reveal that American taxpayer dollars fund Palestinian terrorists. How so and how much?

As soon as a Palestinian terrorist murders an innocent civilian, blows up a bus or commits any other act of terrorism in Israel, he or she goes on an official Palestinian Authority salary. That salary level follows a schedule of compensation that rises dramatically with the number of people killed and the amount of carnage inflicted.

These salaries are paid directly to the terrorists and managed through a Power of Attorney. Via the POA, the terrorist then directs the money be held for him go to either his family, his girlfriend, his organization, his attorney or whoever. These salaries are paid on a priority basis by the PA, managed by an entire branch of government, the Ministry of Prisoners. A Palestinian NGO, The Prisoners Club, constantly lobbies and reminds PA leaders not only to make the required payments but also to supplement them. These are the best compensation packages in the PA, dwarfing the wage of an ordinary worker. Hence, you can go from rags to riches in Palestine by murdering a family or firebombing a bus. Approximately $3 million to $7 million each month is paid in this program, constituting approximately 6 percent of the PA’s annual budget. Since the PA is constantly operating at a deficit, this cash supply is dependent upon donor countries such as the United States, the UK, France and Norway. Their foreign ministries and our State Department know about this terror financing, but our congressmen do not, nor does the American public — until now.

Beyond funding terrorists, you also document how U.S. taxpayer funds are used to exploit children in the Palestinian territories. In what way?

There are many examples, but here is just one. In the village of Nabi Saleh on the West Bank, there is a scheduled riot every Friday at approximately 1 p.m. Everyone in Israel knows it is going to happen. The rioters attempt to take over the highway. The soldiers stop them just before they reach the intersection.
The mothers push their children into the M-16s of hapless Israeli soldiers, train them to spit upon and provoke the soldiers and to drape their flags over the soldier’s face mask. All this is done in an attempt to play for the cameras. These cameras are provided by an NGO named B’Tselem, which actually provides cameras to the protesters who are swarming around the soldiers, sometimes only inches from the end of their noses.

If a soldier reacts, that reaction is captured on cameras distributed by B’Tselem and others, then uploaded to the Internet. B’Tselem is receiving massive funding from the New Israel Fund, which makes all this possible. It answers the question: “If the Palestinians rioters speak Arabic and the Israeli soldiers speak Hebrew, why are the riots conducted in English?” Answer: They are playing for the cameras, and the New Israel Fund uses tax-subsidized American dollars to make it happen. Using children as human shields is a violation of international law. Whether their mothers proudly strap bomb vests onto their torsos or shove them into loaded M-16s, this crime should not be exploited or encouraged.

What organizations are the main culprits and how are they able to deceive Americans and the U.S. government? In other words, how is this happening?

I don’t want to use the word “culprits” as the New Israel Fund is doing some things terribly right — funding many recipients who are doing good deeds in Israel — but they are also doing some things terribly wrong. That is why I wrote the book.

The Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Yoni Chetboun and other leading members of the Knesset went on the record to formally accuse the New Israel Fund of working to “destabilize the Israeli military” and “wipe away Israel’s Jewish identity.”

The New Israel Fund is financing some 800 organizations, many of them worthwhile, but scores of them are considered by Israeli government officials to be anti-Israel, anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist. Among them are B’Tselem and another group called Adalah, which brags about its campaign to get Israeli soldiers indicted for war crimes. But, there are other groups, such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations who are active in Israel. You would be in error to believe these activities are clandestine. They are done out in the open, advertised on the Internet, and fully visible to anyone who bothers to look.

Therefore, if there is a culprit, it is the donors who are making these charitable donations and oftentimes not following the money or undertaking the due diligence to see exactly where their money is going and what it’s being used for.

If the IRS reclassifies those donations as outside the scope of a charitable contribution or being too political, there is a chance those donations will be retroactively clawed back by the IRS and heavy double-digit penalties assessed. In other words, we may see the Madoffization of certain charitable donations that are being misused by certain organizations in Israel. I call this “donor dread.” Donor dread is like buyer’s remorse, but it comes with a 20 percent penalty from the IRS.

What do you think the U.S. government should do to cut off the funds?

First, U.S. lawmakers must redefine and narrow the scope of a charitable donation, disallowing tax-subsidized donations when used for exploiting child endangerment, political lobbying in a foreign country, undermining an ally or religious discrimination. The IRS needs to examine the multitude of donors involved and the 501(c)(3) status of numerous organizations which in fact seem primarily political, militant and/or confrontation oriented. Plus, our lawmakers need to stop funding the Palestinian Authority while terrorist salaries are being paid by the PA — and then claw back prior funding that, in fact, violated American law which prohibits any U.S. money from benefitting a terrorist.

Have different American presidential administrations been better with stopping money from getting to terrorists than other American administrations?

This is not about any specific administration, past or present, Democratic or Republican. This is about years of fiscal insanity wherein Americans state they wish to promote peace and reconciliation in Israel with their taxpayer dollars — but, in fact, doing the exact opposite. This has been going on since the last century. Only now, the scope has achieved a level so mammoth that Israeli Knesset members and Israeli military organizations say that highly-politicized American-funded human rights organizations have opened up a new “military front” in Israel to achieve within its midst what cannot be achieved on the battlefield.

You write that anti-Israel protesters can be rewarded when they riot. What is the purpose of this?

I found one case, for example, in the village of Nabi Saleh where one of the protest organizers received an $85 stipend when she wrote up the details of injuries sustained as a result of soldier provocation. This amount of money is three to four times the average daily wage in the Palestinian Authority and is paid by a George Soros-funded NGO. In my opinion, the incentive is clear — if there is no violence, there is no report, no compensation. If violence does occur and there are injuries, the compensation is forthcoming. It appears we are incentivizing this bad behavior.

What is the most interesting fact or anecdote you discovered researching the book?

I found senior Israeli military men, expert at using M-16s, F-15s and Jericho II missiles, intrepid in every battle scenario, but simply afraid to confront and complain about Americans for fear of offending the United States. The taunting and abuses heaped upon Israeli soldiers would never be tolerated in downtown Washington, D.C., midtown Manhattan or Chicago’s loop, but Israeli officials are too afraid to provide their soldiers with the same protections that an ordinary traffic cop would have in any American city.

What do you think of what you might call international human rights community today? Do they have the right priorities?

This is not about a challenge to the international human rights community. I am a fierce crusader for the human rights of all groups, from the Armenians slaughtered by the Turks, to the Appalachian Americans hunted by America’s eugenicists, to the Middle Eastern Muslims subjugated by the oil companies after World War I. This is about identity theft. Well-funded human rights organizations and NGOs in Israel, relying upon a massive, well-endowed war chest, are pretending to engage in human rights and acting in the name of human rights, while actually pursuing an agenda of political upheaval, violence and confrontation. Human rights must never be politicized and must always afford all individuals the same protections.

Any plan to write another book? If so, about what?

All of my books over the past decades have always been embargoed, never announced in advance. My next two books are spoken for: One in 2014 will deal with World War I; one in 2015 will treat a technological assault against society that will dwarf the transgressions undertaken by IBM during the Holocaust, the topic of another volume I wrote.